Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full scholarship to the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, the youngest person ever to have been admitted, at age five. She was expelled at age eleven for, in her own words, insisting on playing by ear and because of her interest in popular rock music.
Amos was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990’s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument. She is known for her emotionally intense songs that cover a wide range of subjects including sexuality, religion and personal tragedy. Some of her charting singles include Crucify, Silent All These Years, Cornflake Girl, Caught a Lite Sneeze, Professional Widow, Spark and A Sorta Fairytale, her most commercially successful single in the U.S.
As of 2005, Amos had sold 12 million records worldwide. Having a history of making eccentric and at times ribald comments during concerts and interviews, she has earned a reputation for being highly idiosyncratic. As a social commentator and sometimes activist, some of the topics she has been most vocal about include feminism, religion, gay rights and sexuality.
When Amos was 2, her family moved from Newton, North Carolina to Baltimore, Maryland, where she began to play the piano. By age five, she had begun composing instrumental pieces on piano and, while living in Rockville, Maryland, she won a full scholarship to the Preparatory Division of the Peabody Conservatory of Music (still aged five). Her scholarship was discontinued at age 11 and she was asked to leave. Amos has asserted that she lost the scholarship because of her interest in rock and popular music, coupled with her dislike for reading from sheet music. Two years later, she began studying at Montgomery College and began playing at piano bars, chaperoned by her father, who was sending tapes of songs she had written to record companies.
Amos first came to local notice by winning a county teen talent contest in 1977, singing a song called “More Than Just a Friend”. As a senior at Richard Montgomery High School, she co-wrote Baltimore with her brother Mike Amos for a competition involving the Baltimore Orioles. The song won the contest and became her first single, released as a 7” single pressed locally for family and friends during 1980 with another Amos-penned composition as a B-side, Walking With You. Prior to this period, she performed under her middle name, Ellen, but permanently adopted Tori after a friend’s boyfriend told her it suited her. At age 21, Amos moved to Los Angeles to pursue her music career after several years performing on the piano bar circuit of the East Coast.
That same year, Amos formed a music group, Y Kant Tori Read. The name was a reference to her days at the Peabody Conservatory, where she was able to play songs on her piano by ear but was never successful at sight reading. In addition to Amos, the group was composed of Steve Caton (who would later play guitars on all her subsequent albums until 1999), drummer Matt Sorum, bass player Brad Cobb and, for a short time, keyboardist Jim Tauber. A year later, Atlantic Records gave Amos a six record contract, and by July 1988, the band’s self-titled debut album was released to poor reviews. The album is now out of print, and Amos has expressed no interest in reissuing it. After the commercial failure, Amos began working with other artists (including Stan Ridgway, Sandra Bernhard, and Al Stewart) as a backup vocalist. She also recorded a song called “Distant Storm” for the film China O’Brien; in the credits, the song is attributed to a band called Tess Makes Good. It was the only song recorded by the band, and its only commercial release was in the film.
Despite the disappointing reaction to Y Kant Tori Read, Amos still had to comply with her six record contract with Atlantic Records, who in 1989 wanted a new record by March 1990. When she presented them with her initial recordings, they were rejected on the grounds that such piano-based music would not sell in an early-’90s market of grunge, rock, rap and dance music. Extensively reworked and expanded with the help of Steve Caton, Eric Rosse, Will MacGregor, Carlo Nuccio, and Dan Nebenzal, the record ended up full of raw, emotive songs recounting her religious upbringing, sexual awakening, struggle to establish her identity, and her sexual assault. The Atlantic executives changed their minds upon hearing the updated version, with the plan to promote her as an heir to Joni Mitchell and Laura Nyro, or alternatively as a female version of Elton John. Expecting the traditionally more open-minded UK market to warm to Amos and to create a “buzz” with which to return to the US, Atlantic relocated Amos to Britain in early 1991 to play small clubs in preparation for the launch of the new album, which was released under the title Little Earthquakes.
Amos traveled to New Mexico with personal and professional partner Eric Rosse in 1993 to write and largely record her second solo record, Under the Pink. Amos continued to write about the events in her own life, but in a way that was not as lucid as the lyrics found on her solo debut album. Musically, Amos drew from the style of classical composers she had studied during her childhood, and put more focus on her solo piano rather than band instrumentation. The album was received with mostly favorable reviews and sold enough copies to chart at #12 on the Billboard 200, a significantly higher position than the preceding album’s position at #54 on the same chart.
The end of Amos’s personal and professional relationship with Eric Rosse served as the stimulus for her third solo album, Boys for Pele, released in January 1996. The album was recorded in an Irish church, in Delgany, County Wicklow, Ireland, with Amos taking advantage of the church recording setting to create an album ripe with baroque influences, lending it a darker sound and style. She added harpsichord, harmonium, and clavichord to her keyboard repertoire, and also included such anomalies as a gospel choir, bagpipes, church bells, and drum programming. The album garnered mixed reviews upon its release, with some critics praising its intensity and uniqueness while others bemoaned its comparative impenetrability. Despite the album’s erratic lyrical content and instrumentation, the latter of which kept it away from mainstream audiences, Boys for Pele is Amos’s most successful simultaneous transatlantic release. It reached #2 on both the Billboard 200 and the UK Top 40 upon its release at the height of her fame.
Fueled by the desire to have her own recording studio to distance herself from record company executives, Amos had the barn of her home in Cornwall, England, converted into a state-of-the-art recording studio, Martian Engineering Studios. Amos enlisted principal band mates Steve Caton on guitars, Jon Evans on bass, and Matt Chamberlain on drums, with whom Amos would record her next two studio albums and embark on world tours.
From the Choirgirl Hotel and To Venus and Back, released in May 1998 and September 1999, respectively, differ greatly from previous albums as they are flush with musical technology. Amos’s trademark acoustic piano-based sound largely replaced with arrangements that include elements of electronica, dance music, vocal washes and sonic landscapes. The underlying themes of both albums deal with womanhood, Amos’ miscarriages and marriage. Reviews for From the Choirgirl Hotel were mostly favorable and praised Amos’s continued artistic originality. While not her highest chart debut, debut sales for From the Choirgirl Hotel are Amos’s best to date, selling 153,000 copies in its first week. To Venus and Back, a two-disc release of original studio material and live material recorded from the previous world tour, received mostly positive reviews and included the first major-label single available for sale as a digital download.
Inspired by the songs she heard on the radio while looking after her newborn daughter, Amos hatched the idea to produce a cover album, recording songs written by men about women and reversing the gender roles to show a woman’s perspective. That idea grew into Strange Little Girls, which was released in September 2001. The album is Amos’ first concept album, with artwork featuring Amos photographed in character of the women portrayed in each song. Amos would later reveal that a stimulus for the album was to end her contract with Atlantic without giving them new original songs. She felt that since 1998 the label had not been properly promoting her and had trapped her in a contract by refusing to sell her to another label.
With her Atlantic contract fulfilled after a 15-year stint, Amos signed to Epic in early 2002. In October, Amos released Scarlet’s Walk, another concept album. Described as a “sonic novel”, the album explores Amos’s alter ego, Scarlet, and her cross-country trip following 9/11. Through the songs, Amos explores the history of America, American people, Native American history, pornography, masochism, homophobia and misogyny. However, the political nature of the album is often tempered by the classic production and songwriting style, recalling the likes of Fleetwood Mac.
Not long after Amos was ensconced with her new label, she received unsettling news when Polly Anthony resigned as president of Epic Records in 2003. Anthony had been one of the primary reasons Amos signed with the label and as a result of her resignation, Amos formed the Bridge Entertainment Group, a company devoted to helping musicians in various ways during a time when the music industry is changing. Further trouble for Amos occurred the following year when her label, Epic/Sony Music Entertainment, merged with BMG ENTERTAINMENT as a result of the industry’s decline. Later, Amos hinted in interviews that during the creation of her next album, those in charge at the label following the aforementioned merger were interested “only in making money.” The resulting effects on the album have not been disclosed.
Amos released two more albums with the label, The Beekeeper (2005) and American Doll Posse (2007). Both albums received mixed reviews, some of which stated that the albums suffered from being too long. The Beekeeper was conceptually influenced by the ancient art of beekeeping, which she considered a source of female inspiration and empowerment. Through extensive study, Amos also wove in the stories of the Gnostic gospels and the removal of women from a position of power within the Christian church to create an album based largely on religion and politics. The album’s debut at #5 on the Billboard 200 is a milestone for Amos, placing her in an elite group of women to have secured five or more US Top 10 album debuts.
American Doll Posse, another concept album, was fashioned around a group of girls (the “posse”) who are used as a theme of alter-egos of Amos’s. Musically and stylistically, the album saw Amos return to a more confrontational nature. Like its predecessor, American Doll Posse debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200.
During her tenure with Epic Records, Amos also released a retrospective collection titled Tales of a Librarian (2003) through her former label, Atlantic Records. She also released a two-disc DVD set Fade To Red (2006) containing most of her solo music videos. Rhino also released a five-disc box set titled A Piano: The Collection (2006), celebrating Amos’s 15 year solo career through remastered album tracks, remixes, alternate mixes, demos, and a string of unreleased songs from album recording sessions. Numerous official bootlegs from two world tours, The Original Bootlegs (2005) and Legs and Boots (2007).
In May 2008, Amos announced that she had negotiated an end to her contract with Epic Records and that she would be operating independently of major record labels on future work. In September of the same year, Amos released a live album and DVD, Live at Montreux 1991/1992, through Eagle Rock Entertainment. By December, Amos signed a “joint venture” deal with Universal Republic Records where Amos would have artistic independence over her work.
Abnormally Attracted To Sin, Amos’s tenth studio album and her first album released through Universal Republic, was released in May 2009 to mostly positive reviews. The album debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, making it the artist’s seventh album to do so.
Amos' twelfth album, Night of Hunters, was commissioned and released by classical label Deutsche Grammophon on September 20, 2011. The Night Of Hunters Songfacts says it is the American singer-songwriter's her first collection created as a song cycle-a series of songs designed to be performed together and in sequence and was inspired by 400 years of classical music. The collection tells of one life-changing night in the life of a woman who is nearing the end of a troubled relationship.
Some of her other concurrent project include writing the music for Samuel Adamson’s musical adaptation of the George MacDonald story, The Light Princess, for the Royal National Theatre. Additionally, she recorded a duet with David Byrne, former lead singer of Talking Heads, for his album Here Lies Love, on which he primarily collaborated with Norman Cook of Fatboy Slim fame.
Amos also released a collection of Solstice and winter songs entitled Midwinter Graces on 3 November 2009.
Released in conjunction with The Beekeeper, Amos co-authored an autobiography with rock music journalist Ann Powers entitled Piece by Piece (2005). The book delves deeply into Amos’s interest in mythology and religion, exploring her songwriting process, rise to fame, and her relationship with Atlantic Records.
Image Comics released Comic Book Tattoo (2008), a collection of comic stories, each based on or inspired by songs recorded by Amos. Editor Rantz Hoseley worked with Amos to gather 80 different artists for the book, including Pia Guerra, David Mack, and Leah Moore.
Other publications include Tori Amos: Lyrics (2001) and an earlier biography, Tori Amos: All These Years (1996).
Tori Amos is married to British Sound Engineer Mark Hawley, has one daughter, and the family divide their time between their homes in Florida, and Cornwall, England.
Additionally, Amos and her music have been the subject of numerous official and unofficial books, as well as academic criticism.
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Tori Amos Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Would not take the garbage out
She'd scour the pots and scrap the pans
Candy the yams and spice the hams
And though her daddy would scream and shout
She simply would not take the garbage out
And so it pulled up to the ceilings
Coffee grounds, potato peelings
Chunks of sour cottage cheese
It filled the can it covered the floor
It cracked the window and blocked the door
With bacon rinds and chicken bones
Drippy ends of ice cream cones
Prunes pits, peach pits, orange peel
Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal
Pizza crusts and withered greens
Soggy beans and tangerines
Crusts of black burned butter toast
Grisly bits of beefy roasts
The garbage rolled on down the hall
It raised the roof, it broke the wall
Greesy napkins, cookie crumbs
Glops of gooey bubble gum
Celaphane from green bologni
Rubbery blubbery macaroni
Peanut butter caked and dry
Curdled milk and crusts of pie
Moldy melons, dried up mustard
Egg shells mixed with lemon custard
Cold french fries and rancid meat
Yellow lumps of cream-of-wheat
At last the garbage reached so high
That finally it touched the sky
All the neighbors moved away
And none of her friends would come to play
And finally Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Said, "Okay, I'll take the garbage out"
But then of course it was too late
The garbage reached across the state
From New York to the Golden Gate
And there in the garbage she did hate
Poor Sarah met an awful fate
That I cannot right now relate
Because the hour is much to late
But, children, remember Sarah Stout
And always take the yummy garbage out
Tori Amos's "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout" is a dark and somber commentary on the issue of negligence and irresponsibility. The song tells the story of a girl named Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who simply refuses to take the garbage out. Despite her father's pleading and threats, she continues to ignore her responsibility, filling her home with piles and piles of garbage until it begins to fill the house and spill out into the streets. The lyrics paint a vivid picture of the rubbish pile, describing it as containing everything from coffee grounds and potato peelings to peanut butter caked and dry, and moldy melons.
As the pile grows, it pushes Sarah's friends and neighbors away, and she finds herself alone and despairing. Finally, she agrees to take out the trash, but it is too late. The garbage has grown so enormous that it spreads across the state, destroying everything in its path. The song ends on a mournful note, with Tori Amos urging children to remember Sarah Stout's fate and to always take the garbage out.
While on the surface, "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout" may seem like a simple children's song, it is, in fact, a complex and thought-provoking commentary on a range of issues, including personal responsibility, environmentalism, and the cost of neglect. The song is a poignant reminder of the importance of taking care of our surroundings and of the consequences of not doing so.
Line by Line Meaning
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Introducing the singer, whose name is composed of three appellations, assuring that we know exactly who we're talking about
Would not take the garbage out
Despite the urging of her father and her role in the house upkeep, Sarah refused to dispose of trash
She'd scour the pots and scrap the pans
Sarah was dutiful in cleaning the dishes after every meal, making sure they were free of any leftover food
Candy the yams and spice the hams
She also had a penchant for cooking, putting a lot of effort into providing flavorful sides and mains for the family meals
And though her daddy would scream and shout
Sarah's father was insistent on her helping with the garbage duties, even resorting to yelling and anger when she refused
She simply would not take the garbage out
Regardless of his outbursts, Sarah held her ground and refused to have anything to do with the trash
And so it pulled up to the ceilings
As time went by and no one took out the trash, it started to pile up, reaching the ceiling of the home
Coffee grounds, potato peelings
Among the items that filled the garbage bags and cluttered up the house were coffee leftovers and potato shavings
Brown bananas, rottens peas
Rotting fruits and vegetables contributed to the disgusting smell and appearance of the neglected refuse
Chunks of sour cottage cheese
Dairy past its prime was also part of the gross assortment of waste in Sarah's home
It filled the can it covered the floor
The garbage not only filled up the usual receptacle, but it also took over the entire floor of the house
It cracked the window and blocked the door
The oppressive amount of garbage was so massive and heavy that it even caused physical damage to the house, obstructing doors and breaking windows
With bacon rinds and chicken bones
Meat scraps and bones added to the disgusting mixture of decaying food and other substances
Drippy ends of ice cream cones
Even sweet treats like ice cream were not spared and ended up being part of the inedible garbage heap
Prunes pits, peach pits, orange peel
Other items that were common in Sarah's trash included fruit seeds and peels, adding to the general filthiness of the pile
Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal
Oatmeal, a breakfast favorite, was left to rot in the bowls and ended up being part of the disgusting mush that filled the house
Pizza crusts and withered greens
Remnants of pizza and wilted greens were also part of the putrid mixture, contributing to the unbearable smell
Soggy beans and tangerines
Even if they were once nutritious foods, beans and tangerines turned into slimy, slimy waste in Sarah's trash
Crusts of black burned butter toast
Sarah's distaste for the trash duties meant she also neglected other parts of the housework, such as burning toast and leaving it to sit around
Grisly bits of beefy roasts
The remnants of heavy and greasy meals like beef roasts became an unfortunate part of the repulsive pile
The garbage rolled on down the hall
The excessive and overpowering trash spills out of the living room and takes over the rest of the house
It raised the roof, it broke the wall
The pile of garbage grew larger and larger, eventually causing structural damage to the house itself
Greesy napkins, cookie crumbs
Other areas of the house like the kitchen or countertops became filled with other types of waste, like greasy napkins and cookie pieces
Glops of gooey bubble gum
Even bubble gum was left to be ground into the floors and added to the disgusting texture of the garbage pile
Celaphane from green bologni
The plastic wrapping from meat packaging and other food envelopes further contributed to the unnecessary trash cluttering up the space
Rubbery blubbery macaroni
Other types of leftover pasta casseroles also robbed the home of precious space and cleanliness
Peanut butter caked and dry
Even condiments like peanut butter were subject to the same level of neglect, causing them to dry and cake over time
Curdled milk and crusts of pie
Milk and crusty bits from pies were some of the most nauseating parts of the pile to look at or smell
Moldy melons, dried up mustard
Despite being fresh and tasty fruits and spreads at one point, by the time they landed in the garbage they were nothing but molds and crusting
Egg shells mixed with lemon custard
Eggshells, other food scraps and partially consumed lemon custard added up to make for an expansive pile that just kept growing
Cold french fries and rancid meat
French fries that nobody wanted and rotten pieces of meat were some of the most unappetizing and foul elements of the pile
Yellow lumps of cream-of-wheat
Cream of wheat and other hot cereal remnants added to the mush exuding from the garbage, making the refuse pile even more unpleasant
At last the garbage reached so high
After a significant amount of time had passed, the garbage kept building up and climbing to new heights within the house
That finally it touched the sky
The garbage had reached such great heights that it was now tall enough that it touched the sky, leading to some seriously impressive (and unappetizing) visuals
All the neighbors moved away
The absolutely unbearable smell of the garbage had caused their neighbors to sell their homes and move away, due also to the unsightly view
And none of her friends would come to play
The grossness of the yard and home became so well known that none of Sarah's friends wanted to come over for visits or play
And finally Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
After everybody else had abandoned her and the trash began to take over every aspect of her life, Sarah finally relented and agreed to take out the trash
Said, "Okay, I'll take the garbage out"
This line marks one of the only times in the song that we see Sarah agree to something she had previously refused to do
But then of course it was too late
Unfortunately, by the time Sarah finally agreed to take out the garbage, it was far too late to make a difference
The garbage reached across the state
As a result of Sarah and her family's neglect, the garbage eventually managed to spread across the entire state
From New York to the Golden Gate
The garbage was so potent and pervasive that it spread throughout the entire country from east to west
And there in the garbage she did hate
This line emphasizes how far gone Sarah's home and hopes had become, with nothing but junk and garbage as far as the eye could see
Poor Sarah met an awful fate
As a result of her choice to continue neglecting the growing pile of garbage, Sarah experienced a series of events that would not have occurred otherwise
That I cannot right now relate
For the sake of the song's lyrics and the need to maintain the rhyme scheme, we are left with no description of what happened to Sarah
Because the hour is much too late
Timing and rhyme once again become the primary focus, as we do not learn what happened to Sarah during the final part of the song
But, children, remember Sarah Stout
Despite Sarah's personal failure to adequately dispose of the garbage, the song ends with a moral lesson and reminder to take out the trash
And always take the yummy garbage out
The song ends with a playful reminder to never leave refuse to pile up, particularly if it includes yummy leftovers we'd hate to throw away
Contributed by Amelia M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
PhoenixPixie33
I have the CD that this is on. :)
Scott Broughton
What CD did this appear on?
Chris Carruth
Miraculously whimsical.
Doc Hogan
Shel would be proud! Then he’d say something wonderfully inappropriate
The Soft Distortion
@missclareremembers SHE is beyond enchanting! :)
Lurker Smith
Tori Amos: ASMR!
Andrea Mossel
Great good o yeah.